Fishing report: Oct. 24

Published
6:26 pm EDT, Friday, October 23, 2009

Last week, as high winds and icy rain whipped the region, any sane person would have bet that the opportunities for a late-season fishing trip were all but over. Happily, there is no accounting for New England weather. This week opened with four almost perfect days, sunny and relatively mild with winds that even allowed for a bit of saltwater fly-rodding.

With the blackfishing still generally good in the usual rocky-bottomed spots, many anglers stocked up on Japanese crabs, aiming to take home a tasty Tautog. Others made their way to Middleground to chase elusive schools of surface-feeding bluefish. Those who cut bait were rewarded with a few larger blues still hanging out at buoy 18 and points east. With the water temperature at 55 degrees and falling, those fish will soon be departing for more southern waters. Today's weather is looking terrible, but on Sunday the sun should shine.

SALTWATER

Striped bass -- The story is schoolies, lots of small schoolies at places such as the Pleasure Beach breakwater, and in Gulf Pond. Keepers are not the story. Jason Jadach at Bobby J's says his logs from action in past years tell him the real push could still be two weeks away. One problem is the lack of any large-sized bait. Some adult bunker showed up at Fairfield Beach this week, but they remain unmolested by the usual predators. Any shot at a sizeable cow bass like the 37-plus pound bass weighed in a Bobby J's this week requires a willingness to lose sleep.

Bluefish -- Scarce. Very scarce. Most of the usual shore locations are suffering from a dearth of large bait and so have provided lots of exercise for casters but little in the way of dinner. The exception was Stratford's Short Beach, where anglers took a few choppers in the 6- to- 8-pound range on the outgoing tide.

False albacore -- The albies have not deserted Long Island Sound quite yet. The speedsters are still showing up here and there, mostly there, with the best opportunities to the east in and around Fisher's Island.

Trout -- Recent DEP stockings in selected river and streams has made for good fall action.

Salmon -- Not many of the breeder-sized Atlantic salmon that were dropped in the Naugatuck River have been caught. Opportunity is knocking. Trout Unlimited's Ron Merly recommends floating fly lines with white streamers fixed to light tippets to nail these trophy-sized fish. Spin casters can shoot Rooster tails into the current.